avenging his kinsman.  Odin, when he heard this, muffled his face with a cap, that his garb might not betray him, and entered the service of the said king as a soldier; and being made by him captain of the soldiers, and given an army, won a splendid victory over the enemy.  And for his stout achievement in this battle the king admitted him into the chief place in his friendship, distinguishing him as generously with gifts as with honours.  A very little while afterwards Odin routed the enemy single-handed, and returned, at once the messenger and the doer of the deed.  All marvelled that the strength of one man could deal such slaughter upon a countless host.  Trusting in these services, he privily let the king into the secret of his love, and was refreshed by his most gracious favour; but when he sought a kiss from the maiden, he received a cuff.  But he was not driven from his purpose either by anger at the slight or by the odiousness of the insult.

Next year, loth to quit ignobly the quest he had taken up so eagerly, he put on the dress of a foreigner and went back to dwell with the king.  It was hard for those who met him to recognise him; for his assumed filth obliterated his true features, and new grime hid his ancient aspect.  He said that his name was Roster (Hrosstheow), and that he was skilled in smithcraft.  And his handiwork did honour to his professions:  for he portrayed in bronze many and many a shape most beautifully, so that he received a great mass of gold from the king, and was ordered to hammer out the ornaments of the matrons.  So, after having wrought many adornments for women’s wearing, he at last offered to the maiden a bracelet which he had polished more laboriously than the rest and several rings which were adorned with equal care.  But no services could assuage the wrath of Rinda; when he was fain to kiss her she cuffed him; for gifts offered by one we hate are unacceptable, while those tendered by a friend are far more grateful:  so much doth the value of the offering oft turn on the offerer.  For this stubborn-hearted maiden never doubted that the crafty old man was feigning generosity in order to seize an opening to work his lust.  His temper, moreover, was keen and indomitable; for she knew that his homage covered guile, and that under the devotion of his gifts there lay a desire for crime.  Her father fell to upbraiding her heavily for refusing the match; but she loathed to wed an old man, and the plea of her tender years lent her some support in her scorning of his hand; for she said that a young girl ought not to marry prematurely.

But Odin, who had found that nothing served the wishes of lovers more than tough persistency, though he was stung with the shame of his double rebuff, nevertheless, effacing the form he had worn before, went to the king for the third time, professing the completest skill in soldiership.  He was led to take this pains not only by pleasure but by the wish to wipe out his disgrace.  For of old those who were skilled